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"A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to fear. The traitor is the plague." -Cicero

Al Franken (D-MN) Progressive/Marxist Profile

KeyWiki.org Page:http://keywiki.org/index.php/Al_FrankenElection Facts for 2014:• Party – Democrat
• State – Minnesota
• Location – Minnesota Senate
• First Elected – 2009
• Candidates in 2014:
Al Franken – D
Julianne Ortman – RAlan Stuart “Al” Franken is a Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party member of
the United States Senate, serving as the Junior Senator for Minnesota.
The Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party is unique to Minnesota and is
affiliated with the Democratic Party.

BackgroundAl Franken was born on May 21, 1951 and grew up in St. Louis Park,
Minnesota. He graduated from Harvard in 1973 and married Franni Franken.
Franken achieved note as a writer and performer for the television
show Saturday Night Live from its inception in 1975, before moving to
writing and acting in films and television shows. He then became a
political commentator, author of five books and a host of a nationally
syndicated radio show on the Air America Radio Network. He has taken
part in seven USO tours, visiting U.S. troops overseas in Germany,
Bosnia, Kosovo and Uzbekistan – as well as visiting Iraq, Afghanistan
and Kuwait four times.Franken was a Founder and leading voice on the Air America radio network.
He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2008.InfluenceFranken serves on the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and
Pensions, which includes the Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace
Safety and the Subcommittee on Children and Families. Franken also sits
on the Committee on the Judiciary, which includes the Subcommittee on
Privacy, Technology and the Law, the Subcommittee on Antitrust,
Competition Policy and Consumer Rights, the Subcommittee on Human Rights
and the Law and the Subcommittee on Administrative Oversight and the
Courts. He also serves on the Committee on Indian Affairs and the
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Communist ConnectionsAl Franken won his U.S. Senate seat in 2008, against Republican Norm
Coleman after an extremely close election night result, followed by a
long and controversial recount process, supervised by Minnesota
Secretary of State and secret Communist Party USA (CPUSA) “friend,” Mark
Ritchie. Communist Party CommentaryIn the Communist Party’s People’s World, November 22, 2008, Barb
Kucera wrote of the controversial Minnesota U.S. Senate election,
quoting both Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie and his known
associate CPUSA member, Mark Froemke:

Whether Minnesota labor’s massive effort to mobilize
members in the 2008 elections was a success will ultimately turn on the
results of a recount in the U.S. Senate race, Labor 2008 coordinators
say. While most AFL-CIO and Change to Win unions backed
Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) challenger Franken, a few labor
organizations – notably the Carpenters and Pipe Trades — endorsed
Coleman. After all the results were turned in, Coleman led Franken by
only 215 votes out of just under 3 million cast. An official recount
began Nov. 18 and could take a month, Secretary of State Mark Ritchie
said. Franken’s race against GOP incumbent Norman Coleman is important
nationally. To get pro-worker bills through the Senate, workers and
their allies need 60 votes, out of 100 senators, to cut off GOP
filibusters. That includes a presumed GOP talkathon against the Employee
Free Choice Act, which is designed to help level the playing field
between workers and bosses in union organizing and bargaining first
contracts… Independence Party candidates made the difference in the Bachmann and
Paulsen races and definitely affected the Senate race, said Mark
Froemke, president of the West Area Labor Council that spans the western
half of the state. ‘The Independence Party got a better number than I
would have expected in this area,’ he said. Negativity of campaign
commercials in the final days of the Senate race also had an effect.

Endorsed by Communist Mark FroemkeInterestingly, Minnesota/Dakota’s Communist Party leader, Mark Froemke, had already endorsed Al Franken.On July 14, 2008, the Al Franken for U.S. Senate campaign announced
that four new labor organizations have “joined its ever-growing
coalition that’s fighting to send a senator to Washington who will stand
with Minnesota’s middle class.” The new endorsements were: • Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers Union
• Minnesota State Council of UNITE HERE!
• Minnesota Postal Workers Union
• International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers, Local Union 1 “Minnesotans need a Senator who understands the needs of Minnesota
families, and who won’t abandon them in a time of need,” declared Mark
Froemke, Education Director of the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco
Workers and Grain Millers Union, Local 167G. “Norm Coleman had a chance to support the families of the Red River
Valley on CAFTA and, instead, he supported President Bush,” Froemke
noted. “Al Franken will stand with farmers and workers and Minnesotans,
and that’s why we stand with him in this election.” Mark Ritchie’s Communist Party ConnectionMinnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie was also a covert “friend” of the Communist Party.

In December of 1999, a Communist Party meeting was held at the May
Day Bookstore in Minneapolis, Minnesota, for the purpose of
reestablishing the CPUSA Farm Commission. Party members present were Erwin Marquit, Helvi Savola, Jack Brown,
Peter Molenaar, Morgan Soderburg, Bill Gudex, Mark Froemke, Scott
Marshall, Gary Severson, Mike Madden, Becky Pera, Charlie Smith and Tim
Wheeler.Mark Ritchie also attended and addressed the meeting. In a written
report on the meeting by Tim Wheeler, Ritchie is referred to as a
“non-party friend” of the Communist Party. The report was marked “not
for publication.” On October 11, 2003, Mark Ritchie’s article, “A new beginning for WTO
after Cancun,” was published in the CPUSA’s newspaper, People’s Weekly
World. Ritchie was listed on the People’s Weekly World website as an
author. The article had originally been published at the Institute for
Agriculture and Trade Policy website. Ritchie also received approval from the CPUSA for his 2006 campaign.

Al Franken (left), Mark Froemke

In a July 8, 2006, People’s World article: “This Battle Can be Won!”
the author underlined the importance of the elections for Secretary of
State, “whose job is mandated as protecting voting rights and election
practices.” They stated of Ritchie: In Minnesota the DFL candidate for Secretary of State Mark Ritchie,
of the League of Rural Voters could play a valuable national role. Working with Communist Mark FroemkeU.S. Sen. Al Franken, (D-MN) and Mark Froemke, an AFL-CIO
representative and Communist Party USA member, left the Grand Forks
International Airport on January 11, 2012, after Franken flew into Grand
Forks to spend two days talking to locked-out American Crystal Sugar
Co. workers in the Red River Valley. Socialist ConnectionsSocialist Wellstone TributeAs the 2004 Democratic National Convention was about to commence in
Boston, Jobs with Justice hosted a living tribute to the late Senator
Paul Wellstone on July 25th. Hundreds filled the historic Old West
Church to confront the question, “What must the Democratic Party do to
live up to the progressive vision of Paul Wellstone?” Wellstone, who died in office in a 2002 plane crash, was a long-time
supporter of Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and this was
reflected in the speaking lineup.“Paul had the courage to stand the pain that comes with standing for
something and not fall for anything,” said United Steelworkers of
America Union International President Leo Gerard, a long-time DSA
affiliate. “That’s what the Democratic Party needs right now. He gave
people a reason to fight, to hope.” Rep. Major Owens (D-NY), a DSA member, pointed out that too many
liberals, including Owens himself, voted for “welfare reform” in 1996.
He praised Wellstone as the lone voice defending welfarism at the time. Another DSA member, Boston City Councilor Chuck Turner, fired up the
audience with a call for “direct action” to ensure accountability from a
John Kerry administration. “We need Kerry there and we need to be there
to purge the cancer (of the Bush administration) from the soul of the
body politic.” Moderator Horace Small was also a DSA member, while speaker Jim
Hightower, an author and radio personality, is a long-time DSA
supporter. Other panelists included Columbia University professor and DSA
leader, Frances Fox Piven; Anna Burger, Vice President of the
DSA-dominated SEIU; and “media personality,” Al Franken. Wellstone ActionIn 2009, Al Franken was listed as a member of the Advisory Board of
Wellstone Action, a Minnesota based organization based on the political
legacy of that state’s late ‘progressive’ Senator Paul Wellstone. Franken shared duty on the Advisory Board with Democratic Socialists
of America supporters or members Julian Bond, Heather Booth, Peter
Edelman, Frances Fox Piven, Leo Gerard, Jim Hightower, Gerald McEntee,
Deborah Olson and economist Robert Reich. SEIU boss Andy Stern and
Communist Party affiliate and Minnesota Secretary of State, Mark
Ritchie, were also on the roster. DSA SupportThe minutes of a Metro Atlanta Democratic Socialists of America
membership meeting, held at the Friends Meeting House in Decatur,
Georgia on March 1, 2008, included reference to a report by Milt Tambor
on DSA support for Congressional and Senate candidates in the 2008
election:

4) Milt reported that DSA is calling on locals to support
progressive candidates for Congress and the Senate, mainly through
fundraisers and volunteering. Al Franken (MN) and one other have been
suggested; more details will follow…

Foreign Policy/National SecuritySupported by Council for a Livable WorldThe Council for a Livable World, founded in 1962 by long-time
socialist activist and alleged Soviet agent, Leo Szilard, supported Al
Franken in his successful Senate run as candidate for Minnesota.

Council for a Livable World, 50th AnniversaryOn June 6, 2012, Council for a Livable World, along with its sister
organizations Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation and Council
for a Livable World’s PeacePAC celebrated the 50th Anniversary of their
founding by Leo Szilard in 1962. There were speeches and toasts by Senator Al Franken, Representative
Shelley Berkley (D-NV), former Representative and PeacePAC Chairman Tom
Andrews (D-ME), former Cabinet Secretary Norman Mineta and
Communications Workers of America President, Larry Cohen.“Agent Orange” Campaign ConnectionIn July of 2010, Dr. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Phuong, a leading
clinician/researcher on the effects of Agent Orange on women and
children in Vietnam (from Tu Du Hospital, Ho Chi Minh City), visited
Washington, D.C. with “Agent Orange victim” and student, Ms. Tran Thi
Hoan.

On July 15, 2010, at the Third Hearing on Agent Orange in Vietnam:
Recent Developments in Remediation, Rayburn House Office Building, VAVA
(Vietnam Association of Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin), Tran Thi Hoan
testified before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Foreign
Affairs, Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific and the Global Environment. This was the first time a victim of Agent Orange had spoken to
Congress. The “victim, the well-received Ms. Tran Thi Hoan, who has no
legs, received a lot of attention.”Dr. Phuong and Tran Thi Hoan were accompanied by Merle Ratner of the
Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism and Susan
Schall (both leaders of the Committees of Correspondence-dominated
Vietnam Agent Orange Relief & Responsibility Campaign). This Marxist
led campaign was set up to extract money from the U.S. taxpayers for
the Committees of Correspondence’s communist friends in Vietnam.The party met with Minnesota Senator Al Franken.